Christian Living on Kind Words

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Kind words produce their own image in men's souls; and a beautiful image it is. They soothe and quiet and comfort the hearer. They shame him out of his sour, morose, unkind feelings. We have not y...

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Healing with Words

Author

Eugene H. Peterson

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Scripture

Isaiah 58:11, Romans 8:28, Psalm 119:105, John 14:6, Isaiah 30:21, Psalm 32:8, Proverbs 3:5-6

Walker Percy wrote six novels in which he made us insiders to the spiritual disease of alienation that he found pervasive in American culture. His name for the condition is “lost in the cosmos.” We do...

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Author

Bob Goff

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None of us complete each other, but we can add a few words to the lives of the people around us to help them understand God’s bigger plan for all of us.

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5 Steps to Handling Strife Within the Church

Author

Mike Kenyon

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Scripture

James 4:1, Philippians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 14:33, James 1:5

Conflict in Ministry Have you ever whispered to yourself, “I didn’t sign up for this?” I confess those words have passed through my mind more than once over the years. When I started out in ministry...

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Blessing Instead of Accusations and Insults

Author

Alan Fadling

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Scripture

Proverbs 18:21, Colossians 4:6, James 3:9-10, Proverbs 16:24, 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Watching television news is often painful… So much conflict, so many harsh words, so many accusations and insults in the headlines. Too many people speak to others with disrespect and contempt. A grac...

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Adapted from Psalm 145:13b-18

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

Psalm 145:13-18

Leader: The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works. People: The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. Leader: The eyes of all look to you, and...

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Author

Elie Wiesel

Keywords

Words

Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds.

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Don't Give the Enemy a Seat

Author

Louie Giglio

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Scripture

Ephesians 6:12, Psalm 23:null, James 1:19-20, Psalm 23:5, Ephesians 6:12

During an especially difficult season planting a church, pastor Louie Giglio was filled with the raw emotions that often accompany the messy side of pastoral ministry. Without going into much detail, ...

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God—We’d like to have had a Hallmark

God—We’d like to have had a Hallmark card kind of week: gentle, quiet and serene, but it’s been anything but that. People died this week—and families and friends grieve. A man got bad news about cance...

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Eternal and Glorious God, You are

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

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Eternal and Glorious God, You are merciful, kind, and forgiving. You hear us when we confess to You. We admit we do not focus on You with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. A day devoted to Yo...

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Author

Gregory Spencer

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As a language-user, I’m bound to all the audacious capacities and frustrating limits of words. We label, we name, we frame all of our experiences, past, present, and future. We give words to our inner...

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Lord of Hope and God of all that’s new—Father

Author

Richard Herman

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Scripture

Romans 12:12, Colossians 3:14, 1 Peter 3:8, Ephesians 4:2-3, Psalm 136:1

Lord of Hope and God of all that’s new—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We’re filled with wonder, gratitude, and joy inspired by the gifts of new life You freely give us. There’s the joy and wonder of eve...

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Psalm 133 | Unity

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

Psalm 133:, Luke 2:41-52, Zechariah 9:9

Ancient lens What’s the historical context? Packed with Singular Meaning, A Pilgrim Song We have three verses packed with singular meaning⸺unity. “How good and pleasant it is when brothers and si...

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Father God–You are a God of grace and

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Ephesians 4:2-3, Micah 6:8, John 16:33, Psalm 147:3, Romans 15:13, Jeremiah 17:14

Father God–You are a God of grace and abundance, who blesses us with more than a shower of blessings but a downpour of mercies. We rejoice with friends in new marriages, and in the strength of lasting...

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Psalm 30 | Gratitude for Rescue and Healing

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

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Scripture

Psalm 30:, 1 Samuel 13:14, Hebrews 12:2

Ancient lens What’s the historical context? Autobiographies Have you ever thought about writing your autobiography? It would be a little like reliving your life, at least in miniscule. As a write...

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The Church Readerboard

Author

Dan Baumgartner

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Scripture

Psalm 147:11, Proverbs 11:, Proverbs 12:22, Jeremiah 9:24

We have an outdoor church readerboard (yep, manual, press-in-the-grooves-black-plastic-letters) near a busy street that I enjoy changing every couple of weeks. The challenge of saying something meanin...

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Keeping Christ at the Center

Author

Dan Baumgartner

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:3, 2 Corinthians 4:4, John 1:18, John 10:30, John 14:9

Christmas in May I’m pretty sure it was Stephen Covey, back in the day ( The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ) who originally said, “The main thing is to let the main thing be the main thing...

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Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Charles Teixeira

Scripture

Mark 5:21-43, Mark 5:17-21, Leviticus 15:7

Intertwined Narratives Jesus’ encounters with Jairus’ daughter and the bleeding woman are sandwiched together with the intention that the two narratives would unlock and help to interpret the other....

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Ash Wednesday and St. Valentine

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

Psalm 107:null, John 21:15-19, Ruth 1:16-17, Matthew 22:37-39, Isaiah 61:3, Romans 5:8

A Valentine’s Day Tradition What better way to say, “I love you,” than passing your beloved some sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, and glycerin wrapped in a chalkly Necco wafer heart? Maybe some of you re...

liturgy

Heavenly Father, our Savior told us,

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

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Scripture

Matthew 16:25, Luke 17:33, Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 29:11, James 1:5

Heavenly Father, our Savior told us, "Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for My sake will gain it." These are hard words. We confess that we oft...

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When the Next Generation is Our Priority: Modeling the Faith for Our Children

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

Matthew 19:13-15, John 20:24-29, Psalm 100:null

The 2023 survey that was conducted by the Wall Street Journal in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago found that only 39% of the 1000 adults polled deemed religion “very important” to ...

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Preaching on Parables: A Simple Framework to Teach Them Effectively

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Matthew 22:null, Matthew 22:1

A Special Kind of Story Most Christians have some idea of what a parable is. Ask an adult Sunday school class and you might hear: “It’s a story!” Another might chime in, “with a moral message!” Mer...

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Five Types of Illustrations & Why They Matter

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Preaching

For most of us “seasoned preachers,” when we come to the conclusion that we need a sermon illustration, our minds instantly think “story.” Many preachers use the words interchangeably, but as we will ...

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How Do You Know?

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Grace

Scripture

John 21:15-19, 1 Corinthians 13:12, Luke 19:1-10, Romans 8:1-2, Luke 23:39-43, Matthew 11:28

In his book The Case for Grace , pastor and author Lee Strobel describes a dream he had as a child after having a significant argument with his father. Strobel does what most of us would do at that...

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Anticipation Lifts the Heart

Author

Luci Shaw

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Anticipation lifts the heart. Desire is created to be fulfilled – perhaps not all at once, more likely in slow stages. Isaiah uttered his prophetic words about the renewal of the natural Creation into...

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Finding the Life You Were Made For

Author

Addison D. Bevere

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 10:38-39

Jesus, the hero of the world’s most well-known spiritual narrative, offers us a mysteriously clear path to the good life: “Anyone who doesn’t pick up their cross and follow after me doesn’t deserve me...

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Never Leaving Their Work

Author

A. J. Swoboda

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Because of the modern rhythms of work that are mediated through personal computers and phones, people, in the words of one cultural commentator, “leave the office, but they do not leave their work. Th...

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Canoeing the Mountains

Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

Keywords

In their book Leadership on the Line, Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky describe adaptive challenges as the work confronting a leader when there is no known fix to a problem. It’s when “best practices” ...

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The Four-Letter Word

Author

Brett McCracken

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In today’s world, holy is the most offensive of all four – letter words. It’s far more acceptable to say, “My life is so messed up,” than it is to say, “I am striving to be holy.” For many, Christiani...

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Fathers and Faith

Author

Lee Strobel

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:6-8, Titus 3:5, Ephesians 2:8-9, Mark 10:17-22, Galatians 2:16

In his book The Case for Grace , pastor and author Lee Strobel describes a dream he had as a child after having a significant argument with his father. Strobel does what most of us would do at that...

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